Hospitals facing penalties over doctors' hours

By Celia Hall

12:00AM GMT 28 Nov 2000

HOSPITALS which require junior doctors to work over their agreed hours are to be named on a Department of Health web site.

The "namimg and shaming" decision is part of the new junior doctors' pay deal. This will recognise for the first time the level of hardship in a training post. From Dec 1 there will be pay increases and a banding system that rewards high- intensity working. A house officer earning £27,000 can expect a rise of £2,000.

Junior doctors should not work more than 56 hours a week, under a deal agreed nine years ago. About 40 per cent of the 38,000 work more than the agreed hours. Under the new agreement hospitals that insist on doctors working longer will be penalised. They will have to pay juniors 62 per cent more when they work over 56 hours and will forfeit the right to train medical students. This will rise to 70 per cent next year and to 100 per cent from December 2002.

The Department of Health web site will also list which trusts are complying with the agreements. Medical graduates applying for jobs will be able to see which hospitals are flouting the rules. A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "We are determined to make sure that the culture of long working hours for junior doctors ends and that they are properly rewarded for the work they do."

The agreement also promises better hospital accommodation and food. Dr Trevor Pickersgill, chairman of the BMA junior doctors' committee, said: "The pay deal will at last start to recompense junior doctors more fairly for their long and arduous high-intensity working for the NHS at nights, weekends and bank holidays."